Discover This!

We have so many great thing to look forward to!

Join us on Saturdays, August 30th and September 6th for U-Picks featuring apples, tomatoes, and a kids activity. These community events are always a good time for the whole family. 20% of proceeds help fund LEFDP farm and nutrition eduction programs. See the events page to learn more.

It’s time to schedule a Fall Farm Tour. If you are an educator and have a class or a group that would like to visit the farm for an Applemania field trip and apple pressing, send us an email. lefdpeducation@gmail.com and see the program webpage for more information.

Our Harvest Festival is on Saturday October 25th this year. AKA Pumpkin Patch & Apple Bash. Join us for a day of fun, food, and community, including a tractor rides, a pie contest, pumpkin decorating, apple cider making, cob oven baking, face painting, local beer, sausages and kraut, potluck, live music, sunset bonfire, and lots more.

Check out the event webpage to sign up & prepay!

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like hard work.

-Thomas Edison

Our Summer Day Camps were a great success! We hosted more sessions and participants than ever. Thanks to all the donors who helped make it possible for kids to come to camp who might not have been able to come without financial support.

This year we had two art themed camps where we integrated crafts, drawing, and painting into the farm experience.  We also had two “Young Farmers” camps where campers experienced all the different aspects of farming. Our “Sprouts” camp for 3-6 year olds and parents was very well attended this year.

Highlights include the Pizza Dough making workshop and cob oven pizza dinner hosted by Companion Bakers, snacking on berries through out the week, catching tadpoles and fish, and eating fresh food from the garden, and of course the homemade ice cream. The overnight campout experience is often a first for many campers and a very memorable night. We gardened, we farmed, we crafted, we explored! What a fun way to spend a week of summer. Hope to see you at camp next year.

On September 20^th, the Live Earth Farm Discovery Program will host El Pajaro, the 6^th annual organic dinner on the farm supporting the Live Earth Farm Discovery Program. Chef Jonathan Miller of Eat Right at Home will regale guests with fresh, local flavors from the very fields where the fare is served. Paired with sumptuous local wines, and accompanied by Penny Ice Cream Sundaes for dessert, live music and an auction, this dinner will delight.

Watsonville, CA, August 4, 2014 – On September 20^th, 2014 El Pajaro, the Live Earth Farm Discovery Program’s 6^th annual farm dinner, will feature local chefs, farmers, artisans and winemakers celebrating the farmers from around the world who have cultivated the abundance grown in the Pajaro Valley. The afternoon will begin with live music accompanying freshly prepared appetizers, a Pajaro Valley Historical Association display and silent auction. After the multi-course wine pairing dinner, the event will culminate with a campfire and dessert overlooking the Pajaro Valley. The children’s cob oven pizza and garden party is a perennial favorite.

“It was so rewarding picking our own food right out of the ground and then cleaning it and eating it,” Dana commented. Why does such a humble act feel so rewarding? Is it because it connects us to the land, and the animals, food, water, and community that sustain us?

Dana is a high school junior who stayed on the farm for three days this spring. She learned how to grow produce, and care for farm animals, how to cook healthy meals, and how to ask the right questions to become a conscious consumer in our local and international food system.

Through LEFDP’s programs local, under served youth build confidence in learning to be active caretakers of themselves, their community and their environment. This is why the Live Earth Farm Discovery Program aims to raise $40,000 through El Pajaro, the September 20^th fall fundraising event, to support farm visits, transportation costs, and garden supplies for the 1500 students who will visit Live Earth Farm in 2015.

[button link=”https://el-pajaro-lefdp.eventbrite.com”]Purchase Tickets[/button] [button link=”http://liveearthfarm.net/discovery-program/support-us/”]Sponsor[/button]

Here’s an easy way to raise money for The Live Earth Farm Discovery Program. Just do all of your shopping through the online shopping mall, Goodshop.com, where you can shop at more than 2,600 top online retailers and a percentage of your purchases will go to the charity or school of your choice. You pay the same price as you normally would, but a donation goes to your cause!

You can also enroll in the Gooddining program. Eat at over 10,000 participating restaurants nationwide and you can earn up to 6% of every dollar spent on the meal as a donation for your charity or school.

In addition, start using Yahoo! powered Goodsearch.com as your search engine and they’ll donate about a penny to your favorite cause every time you do a search!

Here’s the web site — http://www.goodsearch.com/nonprofit/live-earth-farm-discovery-program.aspx.

You can also read about Goodsearch in the NY Times, Oprah Magazine, CNN, ABC News and the Wall Street Journal.

On June 5^th, Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing will host Thank you Thursday for the Live Earth Farm Discovery Program on their great, Westside, dog-friendly patio. $1 of every pint sold will go to LEFDP to support hands-on farm-based education and nutrition programs for local youth.

Watsonville, CA, May 12, 2014 – The Live Earth Farm Discovery Program will be featured in the Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing Thank You Thursday program on June 5^th, 2014. The weekly event supports local non-profit organizations by donating one dollar of every pint of beer purchased. LEFDP uses food and farming as a tool to build pride, and caring. Through the hard work of farming sustainably and cooking real food, children and teens learn to care for themselves for their environment and for their community.

This summer kids and families have many opportunities to visit Live Earth Farm during summer camps, u-pick events, and drop in programs, all supported by the funds raised through community events like Thank you Thursday.

Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing features a wide selection of organic, handcrafted beer and is open every day from 11:30am to 10pm.  They are located in the Swift Street Courtyard at 402 Ingalls street on the Westside of Santa Cruz.

“‘We fought for Independence, son,’ Father said. ‘But all the land our forefathers had was a little strip of country, here between the mountains and the ocean. All the way from here west was Indian country, and Spanish and French and English country. It was farmers that took all that country and made it America.'”

-Laura Ingalls Wilder, Farmer Boy

It’s springtime and so comes an abundance of fava beans! These tasty, green gems are great tossed in salads, risotto, or even a simple pureed soup. Another great way to use these protein packed beans is in a pesto. Add the pesto to some crusty toast and you have an easy, savory snack to satisfy a crowd.

Arugula and Fava Bean Crostini
(Recipe from Gourmet by Kay Chun)

Makes 8 servings
Ingredients

• 1 cup shelled fresh fava beans (1 1/4 pounds in pods)
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus additional for drizzling
• 1 1/2 cups packed baby arugula (1 1/2 ounces), divided*
• 3 tablespoons grated Pecorino cheese or Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 1/4 teaspoon of grated lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 baguette
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 16 mint leaves

*Substitute spinach for a milder version

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.
2. Cook fava beans in boiling water, uncovered, until tender, 3 to 4 minutes, then drain and transfer to an ice bath to stop cooking. Gently peel off skins. (Recruit your children. It’s a great way for them to help with the recipe.)
3. Pulse fava beans in a food processor until very coarsely chopped, then transfer half of mixture to a large bowl. Add 1/4 cup oil, 1/2 cup arugula, cheese, lemon zest and juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper to favas in processor and purée until smooth. Add to bowl. Coarsely chop remaining cup arugula and gently fold into fava-bean mixture.
4.  Cut 16 diagonal slices (1/3 inch thick) from baguette and put in a 4-sided sheet pan. Drizzle with remaining tablespoon oil. Bake until pale golden and crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Rub with garlic.
5.  Spoon fava-bean mixture onto baguette toasts, then drizzle with oil and top with mint.
6. ENJOY!

You’d be surprised how loud a flock of 100 chickens is. The noise isn’t the only thing you notice. It’s the smell, the commotion and organized chaos. Then you taste the eggs and realize it’s all worthwhile.

Gathering the eggs.

A group of 12 students from Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward spent 3 days with us last week and they got to experience the farm in a way that you can only get from staying overnight. They had conventional eggs the first morning and our organic pasture raised eggs the second and it was no contest. These students absorbed everything the could about the farm and its role in the community. They learned about the food system and their role in it as consumers. They also focused on the social justice aspects of food, farm labor, chemicals, and conventional vs. local sustainable. “It’s really cool to see all the different parts and how it all works together,” observed one. After a hike through the redwood groves that are part of the ‘Wild Farm’ one commented, “It’s like a national park and then you walk out into an apple orchard. Cool!” They got to harvest and eat food right out of the fields and garden. They were especially excited about the large and juicy Albion strawberries. They had some with every meal.

Overnights are hard work for everyone, but I think they are an extremely effective way to connect directly to nature and food. High school aged students are at an age where they can really put two and two together and come to a meaningful understanding of the big issues that face us now and in the near future. These students are already thinking of ways to help the food system become more sustainable and just.